Ringing in the numbers

Financial information helps Chinese entrepreneur blaze new trail with website

When Wu Xiaopeng started his blog three years ago in New York, little did he envisage that it would one day become a popular financial website with traffic growth from China.

Now as the founder and chief executive of wallstreetcn.com, Wu, 29, is looking to build his website, which brings together first-hand financial information and in-depth policy interpretation from the United States, Europe and Japan to Chinese readers, into one of China's most influential financial websites.

"The website has maintained at least 20 percent monthly growth in the number of clicks, with more than 410,000 people alone browsing our site by far this month," Wu says.

Before launching the website, Wu was the Wall Street correspondent for the 21st Century Business Herald based in New York. His job required him to be updated with the latest financial information and to be in constant touch with industry experts. Over time, he also gauged the shortcomings of Chinese websites, including some portals, in reporting financial information from the US.

"I noticed that most of the Chinese websites bombard readers with huge amounts of information, but fail to help people filter and interpret important financial news from the US. In many cases, news that is relevant and important to China is not reported in a timely manner," he says. "It was this that prompted me to do something to bridge the information gap."

Wu says he was inspired by the growing trend in the US of veteran financial reporters and professionals opening their own blogs to discuss the latest financial topics and having constant interaction with readers and potential customers. Inspired by the success of these ventures, he decided to follow suit.

In 2009, Wu set up his own personal blog, on which he posted handpicked US financial news and translated them into Chinese. He also used his spare time to do interviews with US business leaders and industry analysts, and regularly posted their comments on his blog.

A few months later, he was surprised to find that the readership of his blog had multiplied considerably and attracted the attention of several financial industry practitioners in China.

Prompted by the robust traffic growth and the positive feedback from readers, Wu upgraded his blog into a website in 2010. He also made up his mind to run the website on a full-time basis.

In an effort to provide Chinese readers more diversified information, since 2011 Wu has teamed up with zerohedge.com, a global financial news website and content aggregator, to translate selected content from it into Chinese and publish on wallstreetcn.com.

In addition, Wu says he has also received a lot of letters from employees working for some well-known global investment banks, expressing interest in contributing content to his website. More than that, Wu says his website's popularity has also begun to draw the attention of some venture capitalists in China.

"Some venture capital firms have approached me to ask whether I would consider selling the website. Although their offer was very tempting, I declined for various reasons," Wu says. He declined an offer to sell the website for $10 million, he says.

Last year, Wu made another big decision - moving to Shanghai to run the website.

"A vast majority of our readers are from China, with nearly 60 percent working in the financial sector. Since Shanghai is China's financial center, I decided that moving there would help me better understand the user needs and also be close to them."

After returning to China, Wu's business has expanded rapidly. The website employs 15 people full-time, and has more than 40 freelance writers from around the world with a solid financial background contributing content.

In April, Wu gained the first tranche of investment, which was a considerable sum, from a domestic venture capital firm. He declined to disclose details of the deal.

With adequate financial support under his belt, Wu says his website will expand in line with the future needs.

"Hundreds of prominent people in China's financial sector, including chief economists of investment banks and CEOs of big companies, have followed us on the micro blog, reflecting the increasing influence of our website," Wu says, adding that although their earnings are meager now, he has attracted considerable interest from advertisers recently.

Wu says he wants to maintain the strong growth momentum of his website by sharpening his competitive edge. "Our advantage is that we have a strong team serving as the think tank to help our readers interpret foreign financial policy and economic data."

He says next year he may take in a second round of financing for the website, and plans to set up branch offices in the US within three years.

(China Daily European Weekly 06/28/2013 page7)